Hello all. I'm Tommy if you haven't already guessed and I own a Saturn, but let me state my story first.
I grew up in Connecticut in a GM family. My father used to be a diesel mechanic for the US Military, was a second generation 82nd Airborne jumper, and has worked at Sikorsky Aircraft since 1988. Anyways, in 2008, my mother died, leaving to me her prized possession, a white on white rims 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34 with the 3.4L Twin Dual Cam V6 engine. She bought it used in 1999 with 12,000 miles on it. When I got the car, it had 103,000 miles on it, had been pampered most of it's life, except for a 6 month 40,000 mile stint when my older brother had the car (He beat on it daily and never performed so much as an oil change). I immediately began pampering the car again with synthetic oil changes, a timing belt service, among other things.
Cut to late September, 2011. The Monte Carlo has 128,000 miles on it now, and I still get giddy over driving it. But apparently life had other plans. The timing belt tensioner and crankshaft position sensor failed at the same time while trying to pick up my friends to go to a local fair. Our family mechanic pronounced the car dead with bent valves. Unable to get rid of it due to it's sentimental value, I had it towed to my house where it sits in my garage to this day, waiting for me to save up enough to resurrect it. Anyways, needing to get around, my father offered to buy me a car to get around, no limits on what I could get other than it had to be newer than the Monte and preferably under $12,000. Two weeks of shopping led me to a debate between a 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt (which the carfax showed had seen the wrong end of a deer in the road), or what I have now, a 2004 Saturn Ion 2 Quad Coupe. Why had I narrowed it down to these cars? I had my own limits. I wanted something domestic, with a stick shift, an OHC engine, and in an actual color (I don't consider black, gray, white, or silver to be actual colors as they add to the blandness of the road).
A deal was struck for $7,500 and the car was mine.
That was October. Now it's January. I've painted the radio bezel, hidden the antenna, switched the front seats to a set from a 2006 Ion 3, and removed the intake silencer. My father also recently bought me a set of GMPP 16" rims for it for my birthday (December 21).
Pics when I got it:





















More pictures in follow-up posts.

 

hidden antenna mod:



painted radio bezel:


more recent pics:






New rims. installed yesterday. Mounted and balanced them myself. I know a centercap is missing. Already ordered a replacement.

 

Hello Tommy and welcome to the forum. That's a great looking whip you got there. There is a lot of information and help here if you need it. Stick around and make some new friends. And thanks for the pics. We love seeing what others are driving.

 

Welcome to the Saturn Forum

 

Thanks for the welcome. Here's my true love though. My Z34.

with my niece and nephew (took this photo, developed it and printed it myself)


When I got it:



Pics taken just a few months before the engine quit.











Mods to this car:
180* Thermostat
Chevrolet Lumina Tail Lights
Option Racing black housing clear lens HID headlamps
pulled the rubber covers off the HVAC controls
225/60/R16 Goodyear Eagle GT performance tires

Shame the engine went when it did. I had JUST bought a rear lip spoiler for it.

 

Welcome from another newbie. I like what you have done with the car. Good pics.

 

I've seen your car on the ION forum .. welcome ............

 

welcome love the true car phone

 

Dealer installed option. Apparently the RAREST option the Monte Carlo's came with (0.03% had the option fitted). It's worth saving. lmao.

 

Now if we could get you to resize pictures to 640X480 or evan 800X600 they would fit the page better.